The present invention generally relates to portable coolers, specifically a collapsible liner that is received in a common hard shell receptacle to function as a thermally insulated receptacle. Picnic goers, Little League baseball game attendees, party guests, concession operators, and myriad other people having the need for a cooler within which to store cold drinks and ice, have all felt the need for a common and heretofore nonexistent device, a collapsible and portable cooler that is easily transportable to the site of the picnic, game or event, which does not consume a large amount of space to transport and which can store a large quantity of drinks in a bath of ice.
Thermally insulated containers have become popular for carrying articles that are best served cool, most commonly beverages, but also things like salads and candy that are prone to melt. Portable thermally insulated containers tend to be one of two types, either a hard shelled insulated container or a soft sided insulated container. Hard shelled portable thermally insulated receptacles tend to be made of molded plastic, with an inner wall and an outer wall, and with an air insulation space between them designed to keep the contents at a temperature different from the outside air. Hard shell coolers are substantially rigid and, as a result, depending on their size, not very portable. That is, for a large event at which it is desirable to keep 80-100 drinks cold, a cooler has to be very large. In addition to the significant size dimensions and the transportation difficulty a large cooler presents, such a cooler is also very, very heavy and difficult to transport. Often, large coolers require two people to carry such a cooler from a car to the field or booth.
Soft sided coolers, on the other hand, generally comprise an inner wall and an outer wall with an insulating layer between them with all three layers made of flexible fabric. Soft sided coolers are generally collapsible and erectable by, for example, folding down side panels, making them much more transportable than hard shell coolers. However, the size of an effective softshell cooler is very limited, because the collapsible sidewalls will not be able to support nearly the number of drinks and ice as a hard shell cooler, often necessary for a large event. The prior art includes many examples of soft sided coolers, including some that are combined with hard shell liners, such that a hard shell plastic inner liner is received in a softshell outer skin. Other softshell coolers are designed to receive structural members to make them rigid. The problem with softshell coolers is that they are not rigid enough to be very big, and are generally limited to individual use.
The requirements of an effective cooler are simple. A thermally insulated receptacle capable of storing drinks and ice in it that retains water in it is desirable, so that as ice melts it doesn't leak out, and which is large enough to store the drinks, food items and ice to keep everything cold. In the past, most coolers have been constructed from a hard shell material, such as plastic or Styrofoam, and for large coolers serving a large number of people, such coolers occupy a lot of space while being transported. While there are a number of prior art devices that are soft shell collapsible type coolers, all are either size limited or require structural members to be installed or erected at the site that must be transported with the soft shell cooler. Otherwise, they remain flimsy softshell containers, the sides of which are not rigid enough to retain any significant weight of drinks and ice that is desirable to be stored such as for a large group or event. The present invention addresses this problem by providing liners to be received in common receptacles.
While liners for some common receptacles such as five gallon buckets, and large garbage cans and tall kitchen garbage cans are well known, e.g. garbage bags that are sized to fit those receptacles, and such liners are available in every grocery store in the United States, such liners and bags are not insulated, nor are they intended for reuse. Significantly, they fit into the receptacle but do not cover, disguise or camouflage the receptacle that they are retained in. When those prior art liners are placed in garbage cans, it is still very apparent that they are garbage cans. Generally, only a small extension over the top rim is provided, so the receptacle is still largely in view. In addition, the liners are thin, single ply liners that look like garbage bags and frequently tear, compromising the necessary water retaining features, so they are not very suitable as a means for turning such a receptacle into a cooler. Similarly, while liners for five gallon buckets are well known in the prior art, they are generally used so that multiple uses of the bucket are possible, for example, as a receptacle for different colors of paint, or different tools or supplies to be stored therein. None of these prior art bucket, garbage can or receptacle liners are insulated, nor are they intended to be thermal liners to maintain a temperature in the bucket, nor do they camouflage or disguise the nature of the receptacle being used, whether the five gallon bucket, garbage can or other receptacle.
In providing an innovative receptacle liner for common receptacles, it is desirable to include accessory article retention devices, for example insulated can holders and accessory holders, on a cooler, and a number of prior art hard shell coolers have included can holders, for example, in the lid of the cooler. Prior art soft shell coolers, due to the lack of rigidity and size limitations, have not generally been provided with accessory article retention devices.
The present invention provides a thermally insulated soft sided liner, large enough to accommodate a large number of drinks and ice, yet it is still very portable and collapsible. An innovative feature of the cooler liner of the present invention is that they are sized and designed to be received and retained in large, commonly available hard shell receptacles, such as a 5 gallon bucket, or a common tall kitchen garbage can, or a large garbage can. The innovative liner includes provisions for securely attaching to the common receptacle in ways that do not interfere with the handle or transport provisions of the common receptacle while still disguising and camouflaging the hard shell receptacle by providing large overhanging flaps that serve the multiple purposes of disguising the nature of the receptacle and providing a device to which accessory retention devices, i.e. can holders and the like, are secured. Providing an insulated liner that turns buckets and garbage cans into coolers, while camouflaging the fact that garbage cans and buckets are being used, eliminates the need for large, bulky and difficult to transport hard shell coolers.